Book Review: Morning and Evening

Morning and Evening. Charles H. Spurgeon. 1866. 470 pages. [Source: Bought]

Morning and Evening is a classic devotional by Charles H. Spurgeon that was originally published in 1866.

There is a devotional for every morning and every evening.

Each devotional begins with a bite-sized portion of Scripture.

Spurgeon "feeds" his flock from both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

He speaks directly to readers and addresses matters of great importance. His works are ever-relevant.

I've been sharing quotes from Morning and Evening since the first week of January when I began reading the devotional.

I'll share my top twenty or so with you now.

From December:

• The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and control of the Lord of Love—as the bright summer days when all is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest! His love wraps the night as a cloak—but to the eye of faith the sable robe is scarcely a disguise.
• His presence will be most realized—by those who are most like Him. If you desire to see Christ, you must grow in conformity to Him.
• Christian, God has not left you in your earthly pilgrimage to an angel’s guidance—He Himself leads the van. You may not see the cloudy, fiery pillar—but Jehovah will never forsake you.
• Christ is the great Peacemaker; but before peace, He brings war. Where the light comes, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must flee; or, if it abides, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot and will not lower its standard, and the lie must be trodden under foot.

From November:

• The past is gone; the future has not arrived; we never shall have any time but time present. Then do not fritter away your life in thinking of what you intend to do tomorrow, as if that could recompense for the idleness of today. No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow.
• Truth must enter into the soul, penetrate and saturate it—or else it is of no value. Doctrines held as a matter of mere creed—are like bread in the hand, which ministers no nourishment to the body.

• Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God.
• To have one foot on the land of truth, and another on the sea of falsehood, will end in a terrible fall and a total ruin. Christ will be all—or nothing.

From October:

• “I will love them freely.” Hosea 14:4 This sentence is a body of divinity in miniature. He who understands its meaning, is a theologian; and he who can dive into its fullness, is a true spiritual master. It is a summary of the glorious message of salvation, which was delivered to us in Christ Jesus our Redeemer. The meaning hinges upon the word “freely.” This is the glorious, the suitable, the divine way by which love streams from heaven to earth—a spontaneous love flowing forth to those who neither deserved it, purchased it, nor sought after it. It is, indeed, the only way in which God can love such as we are. The text is a death-blow to all sorts of fitness, “I will love them freely.”

• We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Hearing, reading, and learning—all require inward digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it.

• When we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon SIN—and another upon the CROSS! It will be better still—if we fix both our eyes upon Christ—and see our transgressions only in the light of His love.
• Each believer must, when filled with a sense of Jesus’ love—be also overwhelmed with astonishment, that such divine love should be lavished on an object so utterly unworthy of it. Jesus must have found the cause of His love—in His own heart. He could not have found it in us—for it is not there! 

From September:

• Wherever Jesus may lead us—He goes before us. If we know not where we go, we know with whom we go. With such a companion, who will dread the perils of the road? The journey may be long—but His everlasting arms will carry us to the end.

• Scripture is a never-failing treasury filled with boundless stores of grace. It is the bank of heaven; you may draw from it as much as you please, without price or hindrance. Come in faith and you are welcome to all covenant blessings. There is not a promise in the Word which shall be withheld.

• A Christian man should so shine in his life, that a person could not live with him a week, without knowing the gospel. His conversation should be such that all who are about him should clearly perceive whose he is, and whom he serves; and should see the image of Jesus reflected in his daily actions.

From August:

• My Lord is more ready to pardon—than you to sin; more able to forgive—than you to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your needs—than you are to ask for them!

• Do you dread sin? He has nailed it to His cross! Do you fear death? He has been the death of death! Are you afraid of hell? He has barred it against the entrance of any of His children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition!

• Let a Christian begin to boast, “I can do all things,” without adding “through Christ who strengthens me,” and before long he will have to groan, “I can do nothing,” and bemoan himself in the dust. When we do anything for the Lord, and He is pleased to accept of our doings, let us lay our crown at His feet, and exclaim, “Not I—but the grace of God which was with me!”

From July:

• It is impossible for any human speech to express the full meaning of this delightful phrase, “God is for me.” He was “for us” before the worlds were made. He was “for us,” or He would not have given His well-beloved son. He was “for us” when He smote the Only-begotten, and laid the full weight of His wrath upon Him—He was “for us,” though He was against Him. He was “for us,” when we were ruined in the fall—He loved us notwithstanding all. He was “for us,” when we were rebels against Him, and with a high hand were bidding Him defiance. He was “for us,” or He would not have brought us humbly to seek His face. He has been “for us” in many struggles; we have been summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; we have been assailed by temptations from without and within—how could we have remained unharmed to this hour—if He had not been “for us”? He is “for us,” with all the infinity of His being; with all the omnipotence of His love; with all the infallibility of His wisdom; arrayed in all His divine attributes, He is “for us,” eternally and immutably “for us”; “for us” when yon blue skies shall be rolled up like a worn out vesture; “for us” throughout eternity!
• Blessed is the fact that Christians can rejoice even in the deepest distress; although trouble may surround them, they still sing; and, like many birds, they sing best in their cages. Trouble does not necessarily bring consolation with it to the believer—but the presence of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy. He is sick and suffering—but Jesus visits him and makes his bed for him. He is dying, and the cold chilly waters of Jordan are gathering about him up to the neck—but Jesus puts His arms around him, and cries, “Fear not, beloved!

From June:

• “Help, Lord!” will suit us living and dying, suffering or laboring, rejoicing or sorrowing.
• After conversion our God is our joy, comfort, guide, teacher, and in every sense our light—He is light within, light around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us.
• If you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus—you do not know Him. You were so lost that nothing could save you—but the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you—bow yourself in lowliness at His feet.
• The Scriptures reveal Jesus, “The Scriptures point to Me!” No more powerful motive can be urged upon Bible readers than this—he who finds Jesus finds life, heaven, all things. Happy he who, searching his Bible, discovers his Savior!

From May:

• There is no need for God to create a new thing upon the earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime.
• Christian, what have you to do with sin? Has it not cost you enough already? Burnt child—will you play with the fire? What! when you have already been between the jaws of the lion—will you step a second time into his den? Have you not had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all your veins once—and will you play upon the hole of the viper, and put your hand upon the cockatrice’s den a second time? Did sin ever yield you real pleasure? Did you find solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to your old drudgery, and wear the chain again—if it delights you. But inasmuch as sin did never give you what it promised to bestow—but deluded you with lies—do not be snared a second time by the old fowler!
• What a comfort to know that we have a great Physician who is both able and willing to heal us! Let us think of Him for a while tonight. His cures are very speedy—there is life in a look at Him. His cures are radical—He strikes at the center of the disease. And hence, His cures are sure and certain. He never fails, and the disease never returns. There is no relapse where Christ heals—there is no fear that His patients should be merely patched up for a season. He is well skilled in all diseases. Jesus Christ is thoroughly acquainted with the whole of human nature. He is as much at home with one sinner as with another, and never yet did He meet with an unusual case which was difficult to Him.
• Oh, do not think, believer, that your sorrows are out of God’s plan; they are necessary parts of it.
• The gospel is a very bold gospel, it fearlessly proclaims the truth, whether men like it or not. We must be equally faithful and unflinching.

From April:

• Banquet your faith upon God’s own Word, and whatever your fears or needs, repair to the Bank of Faith with your Father’s hand-written note, saying, “Remember the Word unto Your servant—upon which You have caused me to hope.”

• Let us fight as if it all depended upon us—but let us look up and know that all depends upon Him!
• We are not far from home—a moment will bring us there.
• Remember that the same Christ who tells us to say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” had first given us this petition, “Hallowed be Your name; Your kingdom come; Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” Let not your prayers be all concerning your own sins, your own needs, your own imperfections, your own trials—but let them climb the starry ladder, and get up to Christ Himself, and then, as you draw near to the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat, offer this prayer continually, “Lord, extend the kingdom of Your dear Son!” Such a petition, fervently presented, will elevate the spirit of all your devotions. Mind that you prove the sincerity of your prayer by laboring to promote the Lord’s glory.

From March:

• Great thoughts of your sin alone—will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ—will pilot you into the haven of peace. “My sins are many—but oh! it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down as a giant’s foot would crush a worm—but it is no more than a grain of dust to Him, because He has already borne its curse on the cruel tree. It will be but a small thing for Him to give me full remission, although it will be an infinite blessing for me to receive.
• There is no road between my soul and heaven—but faith.
• Look upon all sin as that which crucified your Savior—and you will see it to be “exceeding sinful.”

From February:

• “He has said” must be our daily resort.
• We would be abler teachers of others, and less liable to be carried about by every wind of doctrine—if we sought to have a more intelligent understanding of the Word of God. As the Holy Spirit, the Author of the Scriptures is He who alone can enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly ask His teaching, and His guidance into all truth.
• A daily portion is all that a man really needs. We do not need tomorrow’s supplies; for that day has not yet dawned, and its needs are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June—does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet.
• Christian, meditate much on heaven—it will help you to press on, and to forget the toil of the way. This valley of tears is but the pathway to the better country! This present world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

From January:

• We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God. It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder—and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the majesty of God’s glory, though it may not express itself in song, or even utter its voice with bowed head in humble prayer—yet it silently adores.

• Christ is not only “mighty to save” those who repent—but He is able to make men repent. He will carry those who believe those to heaven; but He is, moreover, mighty to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is mighty to make the man who hates holiness—love it; and to constrain the despiser of His name—to bend the knee before Him.

• How different will be the state of the believer in heaven—from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer weariness—but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never known.

• He who does not grow in the knowledge of Jesus, refuses to be blessed. To know Him is “life eternal,” and to advance in the knowledge of Him is to increase in happiness. He who does not long to know more of Christ—knows nothing of Him yet.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

My Victorian Year #47

I missed last week--I've had a cold and I gave myself a mini-holiday--but I've got two weeks worth of Spurgeon quotes.

From Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

• The God of Peace gives perfect peace to those whose hearts are stayed upon Him.
• At this hour, we rest in the promises of our faithful God, knowing that His words are full of truth and power.
• We rest in the doctrines of His Word, which are consolation itself. We rest in the covenant of His grace, which is a haven of delight.
• Peace and rest do not belong to the unregenerate, they are the peculiar possession of the Lord’s people, and of them only.
• If to die is but to enter into uninterrupted communion with Jesus, then death is indeed gain, and the black drop is swallowed up in a sea of victory!
• Lydia did not open her own heart. Her prayers did not do it. Paul did not do it. The Lord Himself must open the heart, to receive the things which make for our eternal peace.
• He alone can put the key into the hole of the door, and open it, and get admittance for Himself. He is the heart’s master—as He is the heart’s maker.
• Man’s ways are variable—but God’s ways are everlasting.
• Believer, here is a sorrowful truth! You are the beloved of the Lord, redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in Christ Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, on your way to heaven. Yet, “you have dealt treacherously” with God, your best friend; treacherously with Jesus, whose you are; treacherously with the Holy Spirit, by whom you have been quickened unto eternal life!
• Prayer has oftentimes been slurred—it has been short—but not sweet; brief—but not fervent. Communion with Christ has been forgotten.
• The LAW was a dispensation of terror, which drove men before it as with a scourge; the GOSPEL draws with bands of love. The LAW repels—the GOSPEL attracts. The law shows the distance which there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that awful chasm, and brings the sinner across it.
• We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord—but He never ceases to remember us.
• Jesus, the great I AM, is the entrance into the true church, and the way of access to God Himself. He gives to the man who comes to God by Him, four choice privileges:
• 1. He shall be saved. 2. He shall go in. 3. He shall go out. 4. He shall find pasture.
• Justification has engrossed learned pens in all ages of the church, and will be the theme of admiration in eternity. God has indeed “skillfully wrought it.”

From Holiness by J.C. Ryle, "Lot--A Beacon"

• His character [Lot's character] is put before us in one little word: “He lingered.”
• Let us examine . . . the state of Lot himself, what the text says of him, why he lingered, what sort of fruit he brought forth, the whole while paying special attention as an instruction for holiness.
• We must not follow the example of Lot — we must not linger.
• Lot was a true believer, a converted person, a real child of God, a justified soul, a righteous man. We must not undervalue grace because it is accompanied by much corruption. Read on, and you will find that Lot paid dearly for his “lingering.”
• He was . . . slow — when he should have been quick, backward — when he should have been forward, trifling — when he should have been hastening, loitering — when he should have been hurrying, cold — when he should have been hot.
• They believe in Heaven — and yet seem faintly to long for it. They believe in Hell — and yet seem little to fear it. They love the Lord Jesus — but the work they do for Him is small. They hate the devil — but they often appear to tempt him to come to them. They know the time is short — but they live as if it were long. They know they have a battle to fight — yet one might think they were at peace. They know they have a race to run — yet they often look like people sitting still. They know the Judge is at the door, and there is wrath to come — and yet they appear half asleep!
• Lingering is the sure destruction of a happy Christianity. A lingerer’s conscience forbids him to enjoy inward peace.
• A true believer will certainly not be cast away, although he may linger. But if he does linger, it is vain to suppose that his religion will thrive.
• I call upon you and beseech you . . . to be a whole-hearted Christian, to follow after eminent holiness, to aim at a high degree of sanctification, to live a consecrated life, to present your body a “living sacrifice” unto God, to “walk in the Spirit” (Romans 12:1; Galatians 5:25). I charge you and exhort you, by all your hopes of Heaven and desires of glory — if you would be happy, if you would be useful, do not be a lingering soul.
• Oh, let not one of us linger! Time does not, death does not, judgment does not, the devil does not, the world does not. Neither let the children of God linger.

From Holiness by J.C. Ryle, "A Woman To Be Remembered! Lot's Wife"

• He [Jesus] singles out one whose soul was lost forever. He cries to us, “Remember Lot’s wife!” It is a solemn warning, when we consider the subject Jesus is upon.
• The last days are on His mind when He says, “Remember Lot’s wife!”
• The Lord Jesus is full of love, mercy and compassion; He is one who will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.
• He says, “Remember.” He speaks as if we were all in danger of forgetting the subject; He stirs up our lazy memories; He bids us keep the case before our minds. He cries, “Remember Lot’s wife!”
• Let us consider now . . . the religious privileges Lot’s wife enjoyed, the particular sin she committed, and the judgment which God inflicted upon her.
• The sum and substance of her transgression lies in these three words: “She looked back.”
• Does the fault of Lot’s wife appear a trifling one — to be visited with such a punishment? This is the feeling, I dare say, that rises in some hearts.
• Little things will often show the state of a man’s mind, even better than great ones; and little symptoms are often the signs of deadly and incurable diseases.
• When God speaks plainly by His Word, or by His messengers, man’s duty is clear.
• The moment a man begins to think he knows better than God, and that God does not mean anything when He threatens — his soul is in great danger.
• Every age is said to have its own peculiar epidemic disease; the epidemic disease to which the souls of Christians are liable just now — is the love of the world. 
• Be thorough, be real, be honest, be sound, be whole-hearted. If you have any religion at all — let your religion be real. See that you do not sin the sin of Lot’s wife!
• I believe that the time has come, when it is a positive duty to speak plainly about the reality and eternity of Hell.
• A flood of false doctrine has lately broken in upon us. Men are beginning to tell us that God is too loving and merciful to punish souls forever; and that all mankind, however wicked and ungodly some of them may be — will sooner or later be saved. We are invited to leave the old paths of apostolic Christianity.
• We are to embrace what is called a “kinder theology” — and treat Hell as a pagan fable or a bugbear to frighten children and fools.
• Once let the old doctrine about Hell be overthrown, and the whole system of Christianity is unsettled, unscrewed, unpinned and thrown into disorder!
• If words mean anything, there is such a place as Hell. If texts are to be interpreted fairly — there are those who will be cast into Hell. If language has any sense belonging to it — Hell is forever.
• Settle it firmly in your mind, that the same Bible which teaches that God in mercy and compassion sent Christ to die for sinners, does also teach that God hates sin and must, from His very nature, punish all who cleave to sin, or refuse the salvation He has provided.
• The very same chapter which declares, “God so loved the world,” declares also, that “the wrath of God abides” on the unbeliever (John 3:16, 36). 
• Settle it firmly in your mind, that God has given us proof upon proof in the Bible that He will punish the hardened and unbelieving, and that He will take vengeance on His enemies — as well as show mercy on the penitent.
• Settle it firmly in your mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of Hell.
• Settle it, lastly, in your mind that the comforting ideas which the Scripture gives us of Heaven are at an end — if we once deny the reality or eternity of Hell.
• Once allow that Hell is not eternal, and you may as well say that God and Heaven are not eternal.
• The only question we have to settle is this: “Is Hell Scriptural?” Is it true? I maintain firmly that it is so; and I maintain that professing Christians ought to be often reminded that they may be lost and go to Hell.
• God forbid that I should ever keep back from mortal man that Scripture reveals a Hell as well as Heaven, and that the gospel teaches that men may be lost as well as saved.
• Where is the charity of keeping back any portion of God’s truth? He is the kindest friend — who tells me the whole extent of my danger!

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

My Victorian Year #46

From J.C. Ryle's Holiness, "Assurance"

• Here we see the apostle Paul looking three ways: downward, backward, forward — downward to the grave, backward to his own ministry, forward to that great day, the day of judgment! [2 Timothy 4:6-8]
• 1. He looks DOWNWARD to the grave — and he does it without fear. Hear what he says: “I am ready to be offered.” 2. He looks BACKWARD to his ministerial life — and he does it without shame. 3. He looks FORWARD to the great day of reckoning — and he does it without doubt.
• 1. An assured hope is a true and Scriptural thing. It is a positive gift of the Holy Spirit, bestowed without reference to men’s bodily frames or constitutions, and a gift which every believer in Christ ought to aim at and seek after.
• In matters like these, the first question is this: “What says the Scripture?” I answer that question without the least hesitation. The Word of God appears to me to teach distinctly that a believer may arrive at an assured confidence with regard to his own salvation.
• There never yet was a Scriptural truth without abuses and counterfeits. God’s election, man’s impotence, salvation by grace — all are alike abused.
• My answer to all who deny the existence of real, well-grounded assurance, is simply this: “What says the Scripture?” If assurance is not there, I have not another word to say.
• It cannot be wrong to feel confidently in a matter where God speaks unconditionally; to believe decidedly when God promises decidedly;
• 2. A believer may never arrive at this assured hope — and yet be saved.
• To believe and have a glimmering hope of acceptance is one thing; to have “joy and peace” in our believing, and abound in hope, is quite another.
• Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — a man must have, beyond all question, if he is to be saved. I know no other way of access to the Father. A man must feel his sins and lost estate, must come to Jesus for pardon and salvation, must rest his hope on Him, and on Him alone.
• But if he only has faith to do this, however weak and feeble that faith may be, I will engage, from Scripture warrants, he shall not miss Heaven. Never let us make the gate more straight and the way more narrow, than pride and the love of sin have made it already.
• Reasons why an assured hope is exceedingly to be desired. Too many among those who believe, begin doubting and go on doubting, live doubting and die doubting, and go to Heaven in a kind of mist. 
• I would like to see fewer “perhaps” in the Lord’s family and more who could say, “I know and am persuaded.”
• 1. Let us remember that assurance is to be desired, because of the present comfort and peace it affords.
• 2. Assurance is to be desired, because it tends to make a Christian an active working Christian.
• 3. Assurance is to be desired, because it tends to make a Christian a decided Christian.
• 4. Assurance is to be desired, because it tends to make the holiest Christians.
• Some probable CAUSES why an assured hope is so seldom attained. 
• 1. One most common cause, I suspect, is a defective view of the doctrine of justification. 
• Many appear to forget that we are saved and justified as sinners, and only sinners, and that we never can attain to anything higher, if we live to the age of Methuselah.
• Redeemed sinners, justified sinners and renewed sinners doubtless we must be — but sinners, sinners, sinners, we shall be always to the very last!
• Our justification is a perfect finished work — and admits of no degrees. Our sanctification is imperfect and incomplete — and will be so to the last hour of our life.
• 2. Another common cause of the absence of assurance, is slothfulness about growth in grace.
• I believe it ought to be our continual aim and desire to go forward, and our watchword on every returning birthday and at the beginning of every year should be “more and more” — more knowledge, more faith, more obedience, more love.
• 3. Another common cause of a lack of assurance, is an inconsistent walk in life. It is vain to suppose you will feel assured and persuaded of your own pardon and acceptance with God, unless you count all God’s commandments concerning all things to be right, and hate every sin, whether great or small (Psalm 119:128).
• I would not have you judge of the Lord Jesus Christ, by His people. The best of servants can give you but a faint idea of that glorious Master.
• Neither would I have you judge of the privileges of His kingdom, by the measure of comfort to which many of His people attain.

J.C. Ryle's, Holiness, "Moses, An Example"

• Do we want to know what practical holiness is? Let us sit down and study the picture of an eminently holy man.
• To all who want to know what “living by faith” means, I offer Moses as an example.
• The faith of Moses comes nearer to us. It seems to operate in a way more familiar to our own experience.
• Moses gave up three things for the sake of his soul. He felt that his soul would not be saved if he kept them — so he gave them up. 1. He gave up rank and GREATNESS. 2. And more than this — he refused PLEASURE. 3. And more than this — he refused RICHES. 
• Moses chose three things for his soul’s sake, and I think his choices are as astonishing as his refusals. 1. Moses chose SUFFERING and AFFLICTION. 2. But he did more than this — he chose the COMPANY of a despised people. 3. But he did even more. He chose REPROACH and SCORN.
• Moses had faith. Faith was the mainspring of his astonishing conduct. Faith made him do as he did, choose what he chose and refuse what he refused.
• Faith was a telescope to Moses. It made him see the goodly land afar off — rest, peace and victory — when dim-sighted reason could only see trial and barrenness, storm and tempest, weariness and pain.
• Faith was an interpreter to Moses. It made him pick out a comfortable meaning in the dark commands of God’s handwriting — while ignorant sense could see nothing in it but mystery and foolishness.
• If you would ever be saved, you must make the choice that Moses made — you must choose God before the world.
• Do we believe all of the Bible? Let us ask ourselves that question. Depend on it — it is a much greater thing to believe all the Bible than many suppose.
• It is an dreadful truth, and worthy of all consideration, that Bible knowledge not acted upon — is not merely useless and unprofitable. It is much worse than that. It will add to our condemnation and increase our guilt in the judgment day!

From Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening:

• Nothing can fully satisfy a person—but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self. Saints have tried other pursuits—but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges.
• There is no remembrance of our follies. He does not cherish ill thoughts of us—but He pardons and loves as well after the offence—as before it!
• When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and they must receive it—for so the decree of predestination runs.
• God is not unfaithful to forget the price which His Son has paid.
• Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet—but regenerated they must be! This is our comfort when we go forth to them with the quickening Word of God.
• Do not leave the throne of grace until all your needs have been spread before the Lord, and until by faith you have a comfortable prospect that they shall be all supplied.
• It is in vain that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us like a belt, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole man.
• Jesus died for sinners—cannot we live for them? Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we don’t seek His honor in the salvation of men?

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

My Victorian Year #45

From Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening

• None but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty comes from Him alone.
• There is no more humbling doctrine in Scripture—than that of election!
• There are none more promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it—but adoringly rejoice in it!
• “Whatever your hand finds to do,” refers to works that are possible. There are many things which our heart finds to do which we never shall do.
• We must not be content with forming schemes in our heart, and talking of them; we must practically carry out “whatever our hand finds to do.”
• Let us not wait for large opportunities, or for a different kind of work—but do just the things we “find to do” day by day. We have no other time in which to live.
• The past is gone; the future has not arrived; we never shall have any time but time present. Then do not fritter away your life in thinking of what you intend to do tomorrow, as if that could recompense for the idleness of today. No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow.
• Whatever you do for Christ—throw your whole soul into it.
• Hell is my portion as a sinner—there is no possibility of my escaping from it while sin remains upon me. Can the load of guilt be removed? Can the crimson stain be blotted out?
• I have believed in the appointed atoning sacrifice, even Jesus crucified, and therefore my sins are at this moment, and forever—forgiven by virtue of His substitutionary pains and death!
• What riches of grace does free forgiveness exhibit! To forgive at all, to forgive fully, to forgive freely, to forgive forever! Here is a constellation of wonders!
• Truth must enter into the soul, penetrate and saturate it—or else it is of no value. Doctrines held as a matter of mere creed—are like bread in the hand, which ministers no nourishment to the body.
• But doctrine accepted by the heart, is as food digested, which, by assimilation, sustains and builds up the body. Truth must be a living force in us, an active energy, an indwelling reality, a part of the woof and warp of our being.
• Winter in the soul is by no means a comfortable season, and if it be upon you just now, it will be very painful to you—but there is this comfort, namely—that the Lord makes it. Losses, crosses, heaviness, sickness, poverty, and a thousand other troubles—are of the Lord’s sending, and come to us with wise design. Winter in the soul breaks up the clods, and sweetens the soul. O that such good results would always follow our winters of affliction!
• If we complained less, and praised more—we would be happier, and God would be more glorified.
• If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged.
• We have been led to the cross of Christ—our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves—but children of the living God, and can rightly expect the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

From J.C. Ryle's Holiness, "Growth In Grace"

• I want to make mention of . . . the reality of growth in grace, the marks or signs of growth in grace, and the means of growth in grace.
• The REALITY of growth in grace. That any professor should deny the reality of Christian growth, is at first sight a strange and melancholy thing. But it is fair to remember that man’s understanding is fallen, no less than his will.
• When I speak of growth in grace, I only mean increase in the degree, size, strength, vigor and power — of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in a believer’s heart.
• I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth, progress and increase. I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal, courage and the like — may be little or great, strong or weak, vigorous or feeble — and may vary greatly in the same man at different periods of his life. When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply that . . . his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith is becoming stronger, his hope is becoming brighter, his love is becoming more extensive, his spiritual-mindedness is becoming more marked, he feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart — and he manifests more of it in his life.
• Growth in grace is the best evidence of spiritual health and prosperity. In a child or a flower or a tree, we are all aware that when there is no growth — there is something wrong.
• Growth in grace is one way to be happy in our religion. God has wisely linked together our comfort — and our increase in holiness.
• Growth in grace is one secret of usefulness to others. Our influence on others for good, depends greatly on what they see in us.
• Growth in grace pleases God. It may seem an astonishing thing, no doubt, that anything done by such creatures as we are — can give pleasure to the Most High God. But so it is.
• Let us know, above all, that growth in grace is not only a thing possible — but a thing for which believers are accountable.
• To tell an unconverted man, dead in sins, to grow in grace — would doubtless be absurd.
• To tell a believer, who is quickened and alive to God, to grow — is only summoning him to a plain Scriptural duty.
• The MARKS of growth in grace. We are very poor judges of our own condition — and that bystanders often know us better than we know ourselves.
• One mark of growth in grace, is increased HUMILITY. The man whose soul is growing, feels his own sinfulness and unworthiness more every year.
• Another mark of growth in grace, is increased FAITH and LOVE towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
• The man whose soul is growing, finds more in Christ to rest upon every year, and rejoices more that he has such a Savior.
• Another mark of growth in grace, is increased HOLINESS of life and conduct.
• Another mark of growth in grace, is increased SPIRITUALITY of taste and mind. The man whose soul is growing, takes more interest in spiritual things every year.
• Another mark of growth in grace, is increase in LOVE to others. The man whose soul is growing, is more full of love every year — of love to all men — but especially of love towards the brethren.
• One more mark of growth in grace, is increased ZEAL and diligence in trying to do good to souls.
• The MEANS of growth in grace.
• God has ordained means — as well as ends. He who would grow in grace — must use the means of growth.
• One thing essential to growth in grace, is diligence in the use of private means of grace. By these I understand such means as a man must use by himself alone, and no one can use for him.
• Private prayer, private reading of the Scriptures, private meditation, and private self-examination. The man who does not take pains about these things, must never expect to grow. Here are the roots of true Christianity.
• Another thing which is essential to growth in grace, is carefulness in the use of public means of grace--ordinances of regular Sunday worship, the uniting with God’s people in common prayer and praise, the preaching of the Word, and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
• Let us strive to use the old prayers, and sing the old hymns, and kneel at the old communion rail, and hear the old truths preached — with as much freshness and appetite as in the year we first believed.
• Another thing essential to growth in grace, is watchfulness over our conduct in the little matters of everyday life.
• Our tempers, our tongues, the discharge of our several relations of life, our employment of time — each and all must be vigilantly attended to, if we wish our souls to prosper.
• Life is made up of days, and days of hours — and the little things of every hour, are never so little as to be beneath the care of a Christian.
• Another thing which is essential to growth in grace, is caution about the company we keep, and the friendships we form.
• There is one more thing which is absolutely essential to growth in grace, and that is regular and habitual communion with the Lord Jesus.
• The names and offices of Christ, as laid down in Scripture, appear to me to show unmistakably, that this communion between the saint and his Savior is not mere imagination — but a real true thing.
• Between the Bridegroom — and His bride, between the Head — and His members, between the Physician — and His patients, between the Advocate — and His clients, between the Shepherd — and His sheep, between the Master — and His scholars — there is evidently implied a habit . . . of familiar communion, of daily application for things needed, of daily pouring out and unburdening our hearts and minds.
• We must realize what it is . . . to turn to Him first in every need, to talk to Him about every difficulty, to consult Him about every step, to spread before Him all our sorrows, to get Him to share in all our joys, to do all as in His sight, and to go through every day leaning on and looking to Him! 
• We can never have . . . too much humility, too much faith in Christ, too much holiness, too much spirituality of mind, too much love, too much zeal in doing good to others.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

My Victorian Year #44

From Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening

• Christ is everlasting! Of Him we may sing with David, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Rejoice, believer, in Jesus Christ—the same yesterday, today, and forever!
• Jesus always was. The Babe born in Bethlehem, was the Word, which was in the beginning, by whom all things were made.
• The title by which Christ revealed Himself to John in Patmos was, “Him who is, and who was, and who is to come.”
• As our Lord always was, so also He is forevermore. Jesus is not dead; “He ever lives to make intercession for us.”
• God’s children run home when the storm comes on! It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul—to seek shelter from all troubles beneath the wings of Jehovah.
• A hypocrite, when afflicted by God, resents the infliction, and, like a slave, would run from the Master who has scourged him!
• But not so the true heir of heaven—he kisses the hand which smote him, and seeks shelter from the rod in the bosom of the God who frowned upon him!
• Nothing teaches us so much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we learn the emptiness of all other things.
• The doctrine of a risen Savior is exceedingly precious. The resurrection is the corner-stone of the entire building of Christianity.
• To know a crucified Savior as having crucified all my sins, is a high degree of knowledge; but to know a risen Savior as having justified me, and to realize that He has bestowed upon me new life, having given me to be a new creature through His own newness of life, this is a noble style of experience—short of it, none ought to rest satisfied. 
• We have fellowship with Christ in His love. What He loves—we love. He loves the saints—so do we. He loves sinners—so do we.
• We have fellowship with Him in His desires. He desires the glory of God—we also labor for the same. He desires that the saints may be with Him where He is—we desire to be with Him there too.
• He desires to drive out sin—behold we fight under His banner. He desires that His Father’s name may be loved and adored by all His creatures—we pray daily, “Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven.”
• We have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings.
• We have also fellowship with Christ in His joys. We are happy in His happiness, we rejoice in His exaltation. Have you ever tasted that joy, believer?
• Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living God—and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see Him face to face.
• Cast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure love to Christ, your soul’s Husband.
• Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all your soul’s range of delight.
• It is by little procrastinations—that men ruin their souls.

From J.C. Ryle's Holiness, chapter three "Fight"

• The warfare I speak of, is the spiritual warfare. It is the fight which everyone who would be saved, must fight about his soul.
• it is as real and true as any war the world has ever seen. It has its hand-to-hand conflicts — and its wounds. It has its watchings — and fatigues.
• It has its sieges — and assaults. It has its victories — and its defeats. Above all, it has consequences which are solemn, tremendous and most peculiar.
• He who would understand the nature of true holiness — must know that the Christian is “a man of war.” If we would be holy — we must fight!
• True Christianity is a fight! Let us mind that word “true.” There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world, which is not true, genuine Christianity.
• The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death.
• He is not meant to live a life of pious ease, indolence and security. He must never imagine for a moment, that he can sleep and doze along the way to Heaven, like one traveling in an easy carriage.
• If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must “fight.”
• The principal fight of the Christian is with . . . the world, the flesh and the devil.
• Even after conversion, he carries within him a nature prone to evil and a heart weak and unstable as water. 
• There is need of a daily struggle and a daily wrestling in prayer.
• He must fight the WORLD. The subtle influence of that mighty enemy must be daily resisted, and without a daily battle can never be overcome.
• He must fight the DEVIL. That old enemy of mankind is not dead.
• He who pretends to condemn “fighting” and teaches that we ought to sit still and “yield ourselves to God,” appears to me to misunderstand his Bible, and to make a great mistake!
• The believer is a soldier. There is no holiness, without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found to have fought a fight.
• To be at peace with the world, the flesh and the devil — is to be at enmity with God and in the broad way that leads to destruction!
• The worst chains are those which are neither felt nor seen by the prisoner! (Luke 11:21; 2 Timothy 2:26)
• All true saints are soldiers. Anything is better than apathy, stagnation, deadness and indifference!
• The child of God has two great marks about him, and of these two, we have one. He may be known by his inward warfare — as well as by his inward peace.
• True Christianity is the fight of FAITH. Unlike the battles of the world, true Christianity
• A general faith in the truth of God’s written Word, is the primary foundation of the Christian soldier’s character. He . . . is what he is, does what he does, thinks as he thinks, acts as he acts, hopes as he hopes, behaves as he behaves — for one simple reason — he believes certain propositions revealed and laid down in Holy Scripture.
• No man will ever be anything or do anything in religion — unless he sincerely believes something.
• No one ever fights earnestly against the world, the flesh and the devil — unless he has engraved on his heart, certain great principles which he believes.
• There is no such thing as right living — without faith and believing.
• A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’s person, work and office — is the life, heart and mainspring of the Christian soldier’s character.
• He sees by faith an unseen Savior, who . . . loved him, gave Himself for him, paid his debts for him, bore his sins, carried his transgressions, rose again for him, and appears in Heaven for him as his Advocate at the right hand of God.
• He sees . . . his own many sins, his own weak heart, a tempting world, a busy devil — and if he looked only at them, he might well despair.
• But he sees also a mighty Savior, an interceding Savior, a sympathizing Savior — His blood, His righteousness, His everlasting priesthood — and he believes that all this is his own.
• He sees Jesus — and casts his whole weight on Him. Seeing Him, he cheerfully fights on, with a full confidence that he will prove more than conqueror through Him that loved him (Romans 8:37).
• You must believe before you fight. If men do nothing in religion, it is because they do not believe. Faith is the first step towards Heaven.
• It is the citadel of the Christian character, on which the safety of the whole fortress depends. It is the point which Satan loves to assail.
• True Christianity is a GOOD fight. “Good” is a curious word to apply to any warfare. All worldly war is more or less evil.
• The Christian’s fight is good, because fought under the best of GENERALS. The Leader and Commander of all believers is our divine Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ — a Savior of . . . perfect wisdom, infinite love and almighty power! The Captain of our salvation never fails to lead His soldiers to victory.
• The souls whom He has purchased and redeemed with His own blood, are far too precious to be wasted and thrown away. Surely this is good!
• The Christian’s fight is good, because fought with the best of HELPS. As weak as each believer is in himself, the Holy Spirit dwells in him.
• Chosen by God the Father, washed in the blood of the Son, renewed by the Spirit — he does not go to warfare at his own charges, and is never alone.
• God the Holy Spirit daily teaches, leads, guides and directs him. God the Father guards him by His almighty power. God the Son intercedes for him every moment, like Moses on the mount, while he is fighting in the valley below. A threefold cord like this, can never be broken!
• The Christian fight is a good fight, because fought with the best of PROMISES. To every believer belong exceeding great and precious promises, all “yes” and “amen” in Christ; promises sure to be fulfilled because made by One who cannot lie and who has power as well as will to keep His word.
• The Christian’s fight is a good fight, because fought with the best of OUTCOMES and results. 
• The Christian’s fight is good, because it does good to the SOUL of him that fights it.
• The Christian’s fight is a good fight, because it does good to the WORLD. All other wars have a devastating, ravaging and injurious effect.
• Finally, the Christian’s fight is good, because it ends in a glorious REWARD for all who fight it. Who can tell the wages that Christ will pay to all His faithful people?
• We see the struggle — but not the end; we see the battle — but not the reward; we see the cross — but not the crown.

chapter four, "The cost!"

• The COST of being a true Christian Let there be no mistake about my meaning. I am not examining what it costs to save a Christian’s soul. I know well that it costs nothing less than the blood of the Son of God to provide an atonement, and to redeem man from Hell. The price paid for our redemption was nothing less than the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary.
• It is what a man must be ready to give up, if he wishes to be saved. It is the amount of sacrifice a man must submit to, if he intends to serve Christ. It is in this sense, that I raise the question: “What does it cost?”
• I grant freely that it costs little to be a mere outward Christian. A man has only got to attend a place of worship twice on Sunday, and to be tolerably moral during the week, and he has gone as far as thousands around him ever go in religion.
• But it does cost something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are . . . enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run.
• Conversion is not putting a man in a soft armchair, and taking him pleasantly to Heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory. Hence arises the unspeakable importance of “counting the cost.”
• True Christianity will cost one his SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. He must cast away all pride and high thoughts and conceit of his own goodness. He must be content to go to Heaven as a poor sinner saved only by free grace, and owing all to the merit and righteousness of another.
• He must be willing to give up all trust in his own morality, respectability, praying, Bible reading, church-going, and sacrament receiving — and to trust in nothing but Jesus Christ.
• True Christianity will cost a man his SINS. He must be willing to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God’s sight. He must set his face against it, quarrel with it, break off from it, fight with it, crucify it and labor to keep it under control, whatever the world around him may say or think. 
• Our sins are often as dear to us as our children! We love them, hug them, cleave to them and delight in them!
• He and sin must quarrel — if he and God are to be friends. Christ is willing to receive any sinners. But He will not receive them if they will stick to their sins.
• Also, Christianity will cost a man his love of EASE. He must take pains and trouble, if he means to run a successful race toward Heaven.
• He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imagination, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be diligent about his prayers, his Bible reading, and his use of Sundays, with all their means of grace.
• Lastly, true Christianity will cost a man the favor of the WORLD. He must be content to be thought poorly of by man — if he pleases God.
• Surely a Christian should be willing to give up anything which stands between him and Heaven. A religion which costs nothing — is worth nothing!
• A cheap, easy Christianity, without a cross — will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown!
• The IMPORTANCE of counting the cost. 
• It shows us that we ought not to hurry men into professing discipleship, without warning them plainly to count the cost.
• If we desire to do good, let us never be ashamed of walking in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ. Press others to consider their ways.
• Compel them with holy violence to come in, to lay down their arms and to yield themselves to God. Offer them salvation, ready, free, full, immediate salvation.
• Press Christ and all His benefits on their acceptance. But in all your work tell the truth, and the whole truth.
• Do not present only one side of Christianity. Do not keep back the cross of self-denial that must be carried, when you speak of the cross on which Christ died for our redemption.
• “What does your Christianity cost you?” Very likely it costs you nothing.
• Very probably it neither costs you trouble, nor time, nor thought, nor care, nor pains, nor reading, nor praying, nor self-denial, nor conflict, nor working, nor labor of any kind. Now mark carefully what I say.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

My Victorian Year #43

I finished reading J.C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Matthew this week and reviewed it. I'll be sharing quotes from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. I also started a new Ryle--Holiness.

Quotes from Morning and Evening:

• God—the eternal God—is Himself our support at all times—and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble!
• Believer, if your inheritance is a lowly one—you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you.
• Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God.
• Untried faith may be true faith—but it is sure to be little faith—and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials.
• When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship does not move to its harbor; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too.
• No faith is so precious—as that which lives and triumphs in adversity.
• Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness, had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God’s strength, had you not been supported amid the water-floods.
• Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too. Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them.
• The fact of this eminent prayerfulness of Jesus is a lesson for us—He has given us an example that we may follow in His steps.
• Jesus has sent His church into the world on the same errand upon which He Himself came, and this mission includes intercession.
• To have one foot on the land of truth, and another on the sea of falsehood, will end in a terrible fall and a total ruin. Christ will be all—or nothing.
• The cross must be carried—before the crown can be worn! We must follow our Lord in His humiliation—or we shall never rest with Him in glory. My
• It is our wisdom, as well as our necessity, to beseech God continually to strengthen that which He has wrought in us.
• Only let your faith take hold of His strength—and all the powers of darkness, led on by the master fiend of hell, cannot cast a cloud or shadow over your joy and peace.
• The Lord is my portion. It is not “The Lord is partly my portion,” nor “The Lord is in my portion”; but He Himself makes up the sum total of my soul’s inheritance!
• The Lord is my portion—not His grace merely, nor His love, nor His covenant—but Jehovah Himself! He has chosen us for His portion—and we have chosen Him for ours.
• The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us.
• The more you know about Christ—the less will you be satisfied with superficial views of Him;
• “To Him be glory forever!” This should be the single desire of the Christian. All other wishes must be subservient and tributary to this one.
• You are not acting as you ought to—when you are moved by any other motive than a single eye to your Lord’s glory. As a Christian, you are “of God, and through
• Let nothing ever set your heart beating so mightily—as love to Him. Let this ambition fire your soul.
• Make God your only object. Depend upon it, where SELF begins—sorrow begins!
• But if God is my supreme delight and only object—to me it is equal whether He ordains life or death—ease or pain!

From Holiness, chapter one "Sin"

• He who wishes to attain right views about Christian holiness — must begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin.
• Wrong views about holiness — are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption.
• The plain truth is, that a right understanding of SIN lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Without it, such doctrines as justification, conversion, sanctification, are “words and names” which convey no meaning to the mind. The first thing, therefore, that God does when He makes anyone a new creature in Christ, is to send light into his heart and show him that he is a guilty sinner!
• Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresies and false doctrines of the present day.
• I believe that one of the chief needs of the contemporary church has been, and is — clearer, fuller teaching about sin.
• Sin is that vast moral disease which affects the whole human race, of every rank and class and name and nation and people and tongue-a disease from which there never was but one born of woman that was free.
• I say, furthermore, that “a sin,” to speak more particularly, consists in doing, saying, thinking or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.
• “Sin,” in short, as the Scripture says, is “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4).
• We will do well to remember that, when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and consciousness, the measure of our sinfulness — we are on very dangerous ground.
• Let us, then, have it fixed down in our minds, that the sinfulness of man does not begin from without — but from within.
• It is a family disease, which we all inherit from our first parents, Adam and Eve, and with which we are born!
• Sin is a disease which pervades and runs through every part of our moral constitution, and every faculty of our minds.
• The understanding, the affections, the reasoning powers, the will — are all more or less infected.
• Even the conscience is so blinded that it cannot be depended on as a sure guide, and is as likely to lead men wrong as right — unless it is enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
• For my part, I know no stronger proof of the inspiration of Genesis and the Mosaic account of the origin of man — than the power, extent and universality of sin.
• I am convinced that the greatest proof of the extent and power of sin, is the pertinacity with which it cleaves to man, even after he is converted and has become the subject of the Holy Spirit’s operations.
• No proof of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, after all, is so overwhelming and unanswerable — as the sufferings and cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole doctrine of His substitution and atonement.
• Terribly black must that guilt be, for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction.
• Nothing, I am convinced, will astonish us so much, when we awake in the resurrection day, as the view we will have of sin, and the retrospect we will take of our own countless shortcomings and defects. 
• Sin rarely seems sin at its first beginnings. Let us then watch and pray, lest we fall into temptation.
• We may give wickedness smooth names — but we cannot alter its nature and character in the sight of God.
• I am persuaded that the more light we have — the more we see our own sinfulness; the nearer we get to Heaven — the more we are clothed with humility.
• People will never set their faces decidedly towards Heaven and live like pilgrims — until they really feel that they are in danger of Hell.
• We may depend upon it, men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus — unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need.
• Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus — are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season; but they will soon fall away and return to the world.
• It is thought grand and wise to condemn no opinion whatever, and to pronounce all earnest and clever teachers to be trustworthy, however varied and mutually destructive their opinions may be.
• Everything is true — and nothing is false! Everybody is right — and nobody is wrong! Everybody is likely to be saved — and nobody is to be lost!

From Holiness, chapter two: "Sanctification"

• If the Bible is true, it is certain that unless we are “sanctified,” we shall not be saved.
• There are three things which, according to the Bible, are absolutely necessary to the salvation of every man and woman in Christendom. These three are . . . justification, regeneration and sanctification.
• He who lacks any one of these three things, is not a true Christian in the sight of God and, dying in that condition, will not be found in Heaven and glorified in the last day.
• Sanctification is that inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Spirit, when He calls him to be a true believer.
• He not only washes him from his sins in His own blood — but He also . . . separates him from his natural love of sin and the world, puts a new principle in his heart and makes him practically godly in life.
• He who supposes that Jesus Christ only lived and died and rose again in order to provide justification and forgiveness of sins for His people, has yet much to learn.
• He is, thus, not only their “righteousness,” but their “sanctification” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
• If words mean anything, they teach that Christ undertakes the sanctification, no less than the justification — of His believing people.
• A doctrine which is needful to salvation can never be too sharply developed, or brought too fully into light.
• Sanctification is the invariable result of that vital union with Christ which true faith gives to a Christian. “He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit” (John 15:5).
• Sanctification is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He who is born again and made a new creature, receives a new nature and a new principle and always lives a new life.
• Where there is no holy life — there has been no holy birth. This is a hard saying — but a Biblical truth;
• Sanctification is the only certain evidence of that indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is essential to salvation.
• Sanctification is the only sure mark of God’s election.
• Sanctification is a reality that will always be seen. Like the great Head of the church, from whom it springs, it “cannot be hidden.”
• Sanctification is a reality for which every believer is responsible.
• If the Savior of sinners gives us renewing grace and calls us by His Spirit — we may be sure that He expects us to use our grace and not to go to sleep.
• Sanctification is a thing which admits of growth and degrees. A man may climb from one step to another in holiness, and be far more sanctified at one period of his life, than another.
• More pardoned and more justified than he is when he first believes — he cannot be, though he may feel it more. More sanctified he certainly may be — because every grace in his new character may be strengthened, enlarged and deepened.
• Sanctification depends greatly on a diligent use of Scriptural means. The “means of grace” are such as Bible reading, private prayer, and regularly worshiping God in Church, wherein one hears the Word taught and participates in the Lord’s Supper.
• Sanctification is a thing which does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict.
• A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience — but war within. He may be known by his warfare, as well as by his peace.
• Sanctification is a thing which cannot justify a man — and yet it pleases God.
• Sanctification is a thing which will be found absolutely necessary as a witness to our character, in the great Day of Judgment.
• The question will not be how we talked and what we professed — but how we lived and what we did.
• Sanctification, in the last place, is absolutely necessary in order to train and prepare us for Heaven.
• Most men hope to go to Heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy Heaven if they got there.
• Heaven is essentially a holy place; its inhabitants are all holy; its occupations are all holy. To be really happy in Heaven, it is clear and plain that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for Heaven while we are on earth.
• True sanctification then does not consist in mere talk about religion.
• People hear so much of gospel truth, that they contract an unholy familiarity with its words and phrases, and sometimes talk so fluently about its doctrines — that you might think them true Christians.
• True sanctification does not consist in temporary religious feelings. This again is a point about which a warning is greatly needed.
• I know no state of soul more dangerous, than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, because we have picked up a few religious feelings.
• True sanctification does not consist in outward formalism and external devoutness. This is an enormous delusion — but unhappily a very common one.
• Sanctification does not consist in retirement from our place in life, and the renunciation of our social duties.
• Sanctification is not merely the occasional performance of right actions.
• Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual respect to God’s law, and habitual effort to live in obedience to it as the rule of life.
• Genuine sanctification will show itself in a habitual endeavor to do Christ’s will, and to live by His practical precepts.
• Genuine sanctification will show itself in a habitual desire to live up to the standard which Paul sets before the churches in his writings.
• Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual attention to the active graces which our Lord so beautifully exemplified, and especially to the grace of love.
• A sanctified man will try to do good in the world, and to lessen the sorrow and increase the happiness of all around him. He will aim to be like his Master — full of kindness and love to everyone— and this not in word only, by calling people “dear” — but by deeds and actions and self-denying work, according as he has opportunity.
• Genuine sanctification, in the last place, will show itself in habitual attention to the passive graces of Christianity.
• I now propose to consider, in the last place, the distinction between justification and sanctification. Wherein do they agree — and wherein do they differ?
• In what, then, are justification and sanctification ALIKE? 1. Both proceed originally from the free grace of God. It is of His gift alone, that believers are justified or sanctified at all. 2. Both are part of that great work of salvation which Christ, in the eternal covenant, has undertaken on behalf of His people. Christ is the fountain of life, from which pardon and holiness both flow. The root of each is Christ. 3. Both are to be found in the same people. Those who are justified — are always sanctified; and those who are sanctified — are always justified. 4. Both begin at the same time. The moment a person is a justified person — he also begins to be a sanctified person. 5. Both are alike necessary to salvation. No one ever reached Heaven . . . without a renewed heart — as well as forgiveness; without the Spirit’s grace — as well as the blood of Christ; without a fitness for eternal glory — as well as a title. 
• Let us now reverse the picture, and see wherein they DIFFER.
• 1. Justification is the reckoning and counting a man to be righteous for the sake of another, even Jesus Christ the Lord. Sanctification is the actual making a man inwardly righteous, though it may be in a very feeble degree.
• 2. The righteousness we have by our justification is not our own — but the everlasting perfect righteousness of our great Mediator Christ, imputed to us, and made our own by faith. The righteousness we have by sanctification is our own righteousness, imparted, inherent and wrought in us by the Holy Spirit — but mingled with much infirmity and imperfection.
• 3. In justification our own works have no place at all, and simple faith in Christ is the one thing needful. In sanctification our own works are of vast importance, and God bids us fight and watch and pray and strive and take pains and labor.
• 4. Justification is a finished and complete work, and a man is perfectly justified the moment he believes. Sanctification is an imperfect work, comparatively, and will never be perfected until we reach Heaven.
• 5. Justification admits of no growth or increase: a man is as much justified the hour he first comes to Christ by faith — as he will be to all eternity. Sanctification is eminently a progressive work and admits of continual growth and enlargement so long as a man lives.
• 6. Justification has special reference to our persons, our standing in God’s sight, and our deliverance from guilt. Sanctification has special reference to our natures and the moral renewal of our hearts.
• 7. Justification gives us our title to Heaven and boldness to enter in. Sanctification gives us our fitness for Heaven and prepares us to enjoy it when we dwell there.
• 8. Justification is the act of God for us and is not easily discerned by others. Sanctification is the work of God within us and cannot be hidden in its outward manifestation from the eyes of men. 
• At our best, we shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation and discover that we are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour.
• The more light we have — the more we shall see our own imperfection! Sinners we were when we began — and sinners we shall find ourselves as we go on!
• Our absolute perfection is yet to come, and the expectation of it is one reason why we should long for Heaven.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Expository Thoughts on Matthew

Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew. J.C. Ryle. 1856. 432 pages. [Source: Bought]

Matthew chapter 1
These verses begin the New Testament. Let us always read them with serious and solemn feelings.

I first read J.C. Ryle's commentary on Matthew in 2013. I decided to reread it for a super-obvious reason: it's worth rereading. If a book is really worth reading in the first place, it is often worth rereading.

J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) is one of my favorite authors. He was a Victorian, a contemporary of Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892). (Though the two are different; one remained in the church of England, the other was Baptist. Both are Reformed.) I've spent most of the year sharing quotes from both Victorian theologians.

This book is a commentary--chapter by chapter--of the gospel of Matthew. It includes a reprint of the Scripture text. After presenting the text of the Bible, Ryle shares his thoughts on what we've just read. He keeps things organized and straight-forward. He is passionate, zealous, and not afraid of asking tough questions. His goal wasn't to make his audience feel comfy-cozy-safe-and-warm. He wanted his audience to think, to consider, to weigh, to question spiritual matters of the utmost importance. Are they indeed saved? What does it mean to be saved? What are we saved from? What are we saved to?

I'm going to share twenty-eight quotes--one from each chapter of the gospel of Matthew.

The name JESUS means "Savior." It is given to our Lord because "He saves His people from their sins." This is His special office. He saves them from the guilt of sin, by washing them in His own atoning blood. He saves them from the dominion of sin, by putting in their hearts the sanctifying Spirit. He saves them from the presence of sin, when He takes them out of this world to rest with Him. He will save them from all the consequences of sin, when He shall give them a glorious body at the last day. He who cleaves to sin is not yet saved.

They [the wise men] saw no miracles to convince them. They heard no teaching to persuade them. They beheld no signs of divinity and greatness to overawe them. They saw nothing but a new-born infant, helpless and weak, and needing a mother's care like any one of ourselves. And yet when they saw that infant, they believed that they saw the divine Savior of the world. "They fell down and worshiped Him." We read of no greater faith than this in the whole volume of the Bible.

We are naturally dead, and blind, and asleep in spiritual things. We are ready to content ourselves with a mere formal religion, and to flatter ourselves, that if we go to church we shall be saved. We need to be told, that except we "repent and are converted" we shall all perish. We need to be sent direct to Christ. We are all ready to stop short of this. We want to rest in our union with the church, regular use of the sacraments, and diligent attendance on an established ministry.

The Word is the sword of the Spirit. We shall never fight a good fight, if we do not use it as our principal weapon. The Word is the lamp for our feet. We shall never keep the king's highway to heaven, if we do not journey by its light. It may well be feared, that there is not enough Bible-reading among us. It is not sufficient to have the Book. We must actually read it, and pray over it ourselves. It will do us no good, if it only lies still in our houses. We must be actually familiar with its contents, and have its texts stored in our memories and minds. Knowledge of the Bible never comes by intuition. It can only be obtained by diligent, regular, daily, attentive, wakeful reading.

Unfailing courtesy, kindness, tenderness, and consideration for others, are some of the greatest ornaments to the character of the child of God. The world can understand these things, if it cannot understand doctrine. There is no religion in rudeness, roughness, bluntness, and incivility. The perfection of practical Christianity consists in attending to the little duties of holiness as well as to the great.

The glory of God is the first thing that God's children should desire. It is the object of one of our Lord's own prayers--"Father, glorify your name." (John 12:28.) It is the purpose for which the world was created. It is the end for which the saints are called and converted. It is the chief thing we should seek, that "in all things God may be glorified." (1 Peter 4:11.)

What is the best safe-guard against false teaching? Beyond all doubt the regular study of the word of God, with prayer for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Bible was given to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (Psalm. 119:105.) The man who reads it aright will never be allowed greatly to err. It is neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear.

To believe Christ's power and willingness to help, and to make a practical use of our belief, is a rare and precious gift. Let us be ever thankful if we have it. To be willing to come to Jesus as helpless, lost sinners, and commit our souls into His hands is a mighty privilege.

Our courage may be small. Our grasp of the Gospel, and its promises, may be weak and trembling. But, after all, the grand question is, do we really trust in Christ alone? Weak faith is less comfortable than strong faith. Weak faith will carry us to heaven with far less joy than full assurance. But weak faith gives an interest in Christ as surely as strong faith. 

Every believer may do something if he tries. There is always something for every one to do. May we each have an eye to see it, and a will to do it.

The beginning of the way to heaven, is to feel that we are in the way to hell, and to be willing to be taught of the Spirit.

It is a good thing to strive to cast sin out of our hearts. But let us take care that we also receive the grace of God in its place.

We must not be satisfied with clear knowledge, warm feelings, and a decent profession. We must see to it that the Gospel we profess to love, produces positive "fruit" in our hearts and lives.

Let all true Christians remember, that their best things are yet to come. Let us count it no strange thing, if we have sufferings in this present time.

There is nothing which shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble. We forget that every cross is a message from God, and intended to do us good in the end. Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God. Prosperity is a great mercy, but adversity is a greater one, if it brings us to Christ. Anything, anything is better than living in carelessness, and dying in sin. 

We must not conceal from ourselves that true Christianity brings with it a daily cross in this life, while it offers us a crown of glory in the life to come. The flesh must be daily crucified. The devil must be daily resisted. The world must be daily overcome. There is a warfare to be waged, and a battle to be fought. All this is the inseparable accompaniment of true religion. Heaven is not to be won without it. Never was there a truer word than the old saying, "No cross, no crown!" If we never found this out by experience, our souls are in a poor condition.

Let it be our daily aim to say nothing we would not like Christ to hear, and to do nothing we would not like Christ to see. Let us measure every difficult question as to right and wrong by one simple test, "How would I behave, if Jesus was standing by my side?" Happy is he that tries to realize his Lord's presence, and to do all and say all as unto Christ.

The same sure word which holds out a heaven to all who repent and are converted, declares plainly that there will be a hell for all the ungodly. Let no man deceive us with vain words upon this dreadful subject. Men have arisen in these latter days, who profess to deny the eternity of future punishment, and repeat the devil's old argument, that we "shall not surely die." (Gen. 3:4.) The God of love and mercy, is also a God of justice. He will surely requite. The flood in Noah's day, and the burning of Sodom, were meant to show us what He will one day do. No lips have ever spoken so clearly about hell as those of Christ Himself. Hardened sinners will find out, to their cost, that there is such a thing as the "wrath of the Lamb." (Rev. 6:17.)

Let us begin from their very earliest years to deal with them [children] as having souls to be lost, or saved, and strive to bring them to Christ. Let us make them acquainted with the Bible, as soon as they can understand anything. Let us pray with them, and pray for them, and teach them to pray for themselves. We may rest assured that such endeavors are not in vain. The seed sown in infancy, is often found after many days.

We ask that God would make us holy. It is a good request indeed. But are we prepared to be sanctified by any process that God in His wisdom may call on us to pass through? Are we ready to be purified by affliction, weaned from the world by bereavements, drawn nearer to God by losses, sicknesses, and sorrow? Alas! these are hard questions. But if we are not, our Lord might well say to us, "You don't know what you are asking." Let us leave these verses with a solemn resolution to consider well what we are about, when we draw near to God in prayer.

Let it be a settled principle in our Christianity, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely willing to receive penitent sinners. Only let us repent and believe in Christ, and there is hope. Let us encourage others to repent. Let us hold the door wide open to the very chief of sinners. 

There is in the Gospel a complete provision for all the needs of man's soul. There is a supply of everything that can be required to relieve spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst. Pardon, peace with God, lively hope in this world, glory in the world to come, are set before us in rich abundance. It is "a feast of fat things." All this provision is owing to the love of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. He offers to take us into union with Himself--to restore us to the family of God as dear children--to clothe us with His own righteousness--to give us a place in His kingdom, and to present us faultless before His Father's throne at the last day. The Gospel, in short, is an offer of food to the hungry--joy to the mourner--a home to the outcast--a loving friend to the lost. It is glad tidings. God offers, through His dear Son, to be at peace with sinful man. 

A will to repent and believe no man can give himself, but a will to reject Christ and have his own way, every man possesses by nature, and if not saved at last, that will shall prove to have been his destruction. Let it be a settled principle in our religion, that men's salvation, if saved, is wholly of God; and that man's ruin, if lost, is wholly of himself. The evil that is in us is all our own. The good, if we have any, is all of God.

Our plain duty then is to live always prepared for His return. Let us walk by faith, and not by sight. Let us believe in Christ, serve Christ, follow Christ, and love Christ. So living, whenever Christ may return, we shall be ready to meet Him.

There is a judgment before us all. Words have no meaning in the Bible, if there is none. It is mere trifling with Scripture to deny it. There is a judgment before us according to our works--certain, strict, and unavoidable. High or low, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, we shall all have to stand at the bar of God and to receive our eternal sentence.

We can never attach too much importance to the atoning death of Christ. It is the leading fact in the word of God, on which the eyes of our soul ought to be ever fixed. Without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sin. It is the cardinal truth on which the whole system of Christianity hinges. Without it the Gospel is an arch without a key-stone, a fair building without a foundation, a solar system without a sun. Let us make much of our Lord's incarnation and example, His miracles and his parables, His works and His words, but above all let us make much of His death. This, after all, is the master-truth of Scripture, that "Christ died for our sins." To this let us daily return.

Was He scourged? It was that "through His stripes we might be healed." Was he condemned, though innocent? It was that we might be acquitted though guilty. Did He wear a crown of thorns? It was that we might wear the crown of glory. Was He stripped of His clothing? It was that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness. Was he mocked and reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed. Was He reckoned a malefactor, and numbered among transgressors? It was that we might be reckoned innocent, and justified from all sin. Was he declared unable to save Himself? It was that He might be able to save others to the uttermost. Did He die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful of deaths? It was that we might live for evermore, and be exalted to the highest glory. Our sins are many and great. But a great atonement has been made for them. There was an infinite merit in all Christ's sufferings.

No doubt men may easily think too little of God the Father, and God the Spirit, but no man ever thought too much of Christ.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible